A New Trainer · Where the Flying Cloud Colt Would Go

Having decided to buy those eight horses, Zhang Jun left his hotel room and knocked on Luo Heng's door.

The door opened quickly. Luo Heng ushered Zhang Jun inside, and the two sat down in the room. Luo Heng asked curiously, "Brother Jun, what brings you here so late?"

Zhang Jun got straight to the point. "I plan to buy eight horses from the secondhand horse platform tomorrow. Four of them are mares I intend to retire directly for breeding, and I'd like to keep them in the stable you manage."

"Sure."

Luo Heng agreed without hesitation. "I was just worried that Jian'an Flying Swallow didn't have any company. I was considering asking my old man for another horse to keep Flying Swallow company. The mares you're buying came at just the right time, Brother Jun. I'll give you the best price."

"Then thanks."

After thanking him, Zhang Jun thought for a moment and said, "The horses I'm buying this time are all from East China. Do you have accounts for secondhand horses in other regions? I can help you see if there are any good mares, or I can look for you at the broodmare auction at the end of the month."

Zhang Jun hesitated again. "If you're not worried about the foals being physically weak, there's also a fairly decent mare here in East China. Her ability to produce foals should be about the same as Crimson Red Crane's and Jian'an Scarlet Cherry's."

Luo Heng was overjoyed and grinned. "Other than East China, I only have one for South China, closer to Min Province. Brother Jun, help me take a look. I want whichever mare you mentioned too. If the offspring are weak, I'll just breed her with a stallion whose foals are hardy."

Zhang Jun nodded and told Luo Heng the mare's name. He also helped him find four mares on the South China secondhand horse platform with a foaling stat of five. Unfortunately, none had a foaling stat of six or higher.

Zhang Jun did not recommend mares with decent breeding traits but unknown foaling ability to Luo Heng. He was afraid of another situation like those three mares, whose genetic factors were good but whose foaling ability was poor.

After agreeing on the stable location and price with Luo Heng, Zhang Jun decided to settle the stabling for the four stallions before buying them. He picked up his phone and called Lin Zhi.

"Trainer Lin, I've picked out four fairly good stallions on the secondhand horse platform. They may not be as good as Shadow Hunter, but they should have no problem winning some local Grade Two or Grade Three Graded Stakes. Do you still have room there?"

When Lin Zhi received Zhang Jun's call, he knew from the name that Zhang Jun had more horses to send over. He was delighted at first, then troubled.

His stable slots were already full. Although some horses would be leaving the stable, he would have to wait until after the final race in January before the Spring Festival. There was no room at present. He couldn't exactly have Zhang Jun's horses stay on the ranch and graze for three months first.

Lin Zhi considered it, answered the call, and upon hearing Zhang Jun's words, privately thought that it was exactly as expected. He immediately voiced his idea.

"Mr. Zhang, sorry, but the earliest my stalls will open up is January. We can't have your horses grazing at the ranch for three months, so how about I recommend a trainer to you?"

Zhang Jun frowned at first, thinking it would be troublesome to find another trainer. But when he heard that Lin Zhi had someone to recommend, he immediately asked about him.

"That can't be helped. May I ask what the environment at this trainer's stable is like? You know my requirements. His ability can be a little weaker, but the stable environment must be good."

Lin Zhi smiled. "His name is Zheng Xing. He's Zheng Shan's cousin and also a trainer in Jian'an. He used to be an assistant at my stable, so he can be considered my apprentice. He only opened his own stable this year, and everything from management onward follows my standards. The environment and feed are absolutely not a problem."

"It's just that he hasn't handled many racehorses before. Since he's running his own stable, there might be some oversights in training and ability assessments. If that's acceptable, I'll contact him first and let him call you at one tomorrow afternoon?"

Zhang Jun agreed. Lin Zhi immediately hung up and contacted Zheng Xing.

Inside a well-maintained stable in Jian'an, where thirty percent of the stalls stood empty, Zheng Xing was worrying over his situation.

Although he had built up some connections while serving as an assistant at Lin Zhi's stable, most were small horse owners. He had no individual owners who could be considered major owners, aside from Jianzhou Ranch and a few tiny ranches with more than fifty broodmares.

[My own setting: giant ranches have over 900 horses, large ranches have 500 to 900, medium ranches have 300 to 500, small ranches have 100 to 300, tiny ranches have 51 to 100, and ultra-tiny ranches have fewer than 50.]

The small owners had limited funds and would not buy more horses before the racehorses in their hands retired. So far, they had only given him four new horses. They had won only one maiden race and picked up a little prize money besides.

The ranches all had their own partner trainers as well. The horses sent to him were weak ones those trainers did not want, with an extremely low chance of winning.

In the eight months since opening, his fourteen horses had run sixty races in total and won only two. His win rate was just 3.3 percent, less than four percent—pitifully low. He could not even earn back the cost of leasing the stable.

Zheng Xing sighed and comforted himself. "Everyone goes through this. Just hold on for a few more years. Once I've built better relationships and the horses improve in quality, the win rate will naturally rise. Then I'll make money."

Just as he spoke, the phone in his pocket rang. Zheng Xing took it out and saw that it was his master, Lin Zhi. He answered in confusion, but before he could speak, Lin Zhi began urgently.

"Xing, listen carefully. A promising new major owner with an excellent eye for horses and great instincts has four new horses bought from the secondhand horse platform that need to transfer to Jian'an. I have no room here, so I recommended you to that owner."

"All four horses are very capable, but they either ran at the wrong distance or used the wrong running style. According to that owner's assessment, as long as you find the right style and distance, these four can win Grade Two and Grade Three Graded Stakes."

"Shadow Hunter, the rising star in my stable, and Cloudstream Flying Shadow, who won a Grade Three race as soon as she switched tracks, both belong to that owner. Cloudstream Flying Shadow was a secondhand horse that owner bought from someone else, so his judgment cannot be wrong."

"I'm sending you that owner's number now. Think through what you'll say, keep a respectful attitude, and call him at one tomorrow afternoon to arrange a time."

The more Zheng Xing heard, the more excited he became. He repeatedly thanked Lin Zhi, then started working out what to say as soon as he hung up. He was so excited that he did not get into bed until midnight, and even then he lay awake for a long time.

The next day, after breakfast, Zhang Jun took a walk in a park near the hotel. He returned to his room around eight-forty and kept switching between pages as he watched for the auction to begin at nine.

Since secondhand racehorses were delivered to different locations or auctioned at different racetracks, auctions could begin at the same time. Two of the horses Zhang Jun had selected were both the first horses to go up for auction simultaneously.

Furthermore, each racetrack had a different number of secondhand horses, while the total auction periods were all from nine-thirty to eleven-thirty and from three to five-thirty. This meant each horse had a different bidding duration, so Zhang Jun had to keep watching every horse's page.

By eleven-thirty at noon, the morning auction session had fully ended. Zhang Jun had secured all five horses he had selected for the morning session.

After lunch, he took another short walk. During that time, he received a call from Zheng Xing and set a visit for October 9 amid Zheng Xing's respectful, ingratiating words.

He then went to the racetrack, where he watched the afternoon's race series while keeping an eye on the secondhand horse platform, and secured the remaining three horses.

Zhang Jun let out a breath. He had spent only 450,000 to acquire all the horses he wanted, far less than he had expected.

After all the race series ended on the seventh, a retirement ceremony was held for West River Moon and the racehorses retiring that week. Zhang Jun and the five members of the Luo Family flew back to Mindu on the eighth.